Classic Poetry for Children: 7 Timeless Poems to Share

To speak of poetry for children might at first seem redundant. With rhymed and metered poetry often sidelined in contemporary literary circles, children’s literature is sometimes seen as the last stronghold of traditional poetic forms. Indeed, a significant number of books for young children employ some form of rhyme. However, it’s frequently clear that authors and editors lack a deep understanding of prosody, leading to prevalent issues like poor meter and forced rhymes. Despite this, there are notable exceptions. Julia Donaldson’s books, like The Gruffalo and The Snail and The Whale, are a pleasure to read aloud, showcasing clever rhymes, solid meter, and skillful use of repetition and refrain, perhaps influenced by her background as a songwriter. Similarly, Lynley Dodd, creator of the Hairy Maclary series, effectively uses rhyme and alliteration, though occasional metrical inconsistencies might suggest her prosody is more intuitive than rule-bound. And, of course, the enduring popularity of Dr. Seuss’s works speaks volumes. Adding to this the persistence of nursery rhymes and the oral tradition of schoolyard chants (though less common now, likely to survive in some form as long as children enjoy the absurd and scatological), one might feel that children’s culture is thoroughly steeped in the poetical.

The apparent ubiquity of rhymed and metered poetry in books for young children might lead some to dismiss these traditional forms as inherently childish, lacking the perceived sophistication of more modern styles. To this, one could argue that some truths are so fundamental only a highly educated adult could miss them, and that rhyme, meter, assonance, and alliteration embody something magical about language itself. Yet, tragically, beyond the age of five or six, children’s exposure to poetry often diminishes, replaced by prosaic, overly dramatic, and increasingly cynical narratives that seem to culminate in worlds like Hogwarts rather than the realm of classic verse.

This was not always the case. Not long ago, poetry was a staple of the school curriculum, so much so that even decades later, a figure like Harry Truman could quote lines from Robert Louis Stevenson’s “My Shadow” in correspondence, even if the author’s name escaped him. Fortunately, the rich resources for such a curriculum still exist. If modern publishers neglect the idea of providing high-quality poetry for children, we can certainly turn to the past. By examining the works of accomplished poets who wrote for younger audiences, we can gain insights into the very nature of poetic form—from its utility as a mnemonic device to the sheer joy offered by the musicality of language. While later academic study might insist poetry is to be appreciated intellectually rather than simply enjoyed, the pieces below offer a starting point to introduce children to the world of traditional poetry—a world often absurd, sometimes eerie, but always possessing a magic prose cannot replicate. Presented in roughly chronological order, these selections demonstrate the power and appeal of classic verse for young minds.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Alfred Lord Tennyson, one of the most celebrated English poets, penned numerous works that can be enjoyed by younger readers. A key element of Tennyson’s lasting appeal is his ability to craft poetry operating at the highest artistic level while remaining accessible to virtually anyone willing to listen. This very accessibility has, ironically, led some modern critics to dismiss his work as merely populist. While he wrote relatively little specifically for children, his exquisite lyric “Sweet And Low,” written in the style of a lullaby, was originally embedded within the second edition of his complex poem The Princess, which contained anti-feminist satirical elements. Today, this lyric is far more famous than the larger work from which it is drawn (it even inspired the name of a well-known artificial sweetener). Its popularity is well-deserved. The gentle, rocking rhythm created by the trochaic meter, combined with the soothing use of alliteration and repetition, evokes a sense of tender longing and the promise of a new day. This elevates what could have been a simple folk relic to the level of high art, creating a poem of rare beauty that resonates deeply with both children and adults.

Sweet And Low

Sweet and low, sweet and low,
__Wind of the western sea,
Low, low, breathe and blow,
__Wind of the western sea!
Over the rolling waters go,
__Come from the dying moon, and blow,
Blow him again to me;
__While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.

Sleep and rest, sleep and rest,
__Father will come to thee soon;
Rest, rest, on mother’s breast,
__Father will come to thee soon;
Father will come to his babe in the nest,
__Silver sails all out of the west,
Under the silver moon:
__Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.

Christina Rossetti

The youngest of the renowned Rossetti siblings, Christina Rossetti was a prolific poet whose diverse output ranged from charming nursery rhymes to somber and sometimes morbid religious meditations, written in both English and Italian. Her overt religiosity and forthright femininity have made her less fashionable among some modern academics compared to figures like Emily Dickinson, resulting in fewer contemporary champions for her work. Nevertheless, she was a powerful and often experimental poet in her own right. Her approach to meter, which was somewhat fluid yet highly musical, significantly influenced later poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins. Her most celebrated work, “Goblin Market,” is a cornerstone text of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in literature and has sparked considerable debate regarding its interpretation over the century and a half since its initial publication. Rossetti herself maintained that she intended no profound meaning behind the narrative of a young woman enslaved by forbidden desires and her subsequent redemption through her sister’s devotion. However, the potent blend of haunting fairytale imagery and Christian moral undertones in the poem speaks compellingly on its own. The poem’s considerable length, nearly 600 lines, unfortunately makes it impractical to include in its entirety here (the complete poem can be read here). The selection below offers the opening section, vividly depicting the arrival of the goblin merchants with their enchanted, perilous fruits.

Illustration depicting two young women near a stream, listening to unseen figures

Goblin Market (Excerpt)

Morning and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
“Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy:
Apples and quinces,
Lemons and oranges,
Plump unpeck’d cherries,
Melons and raspberries,
Bloom-down-cheek’d peaches,
Swart-headed mulberries,
Wild free-born cranberries,
Crab-apples, dewberries,
Pine-apples, blackberries,
Apricots, strawberries;—
All ripe together
In summer weather,—
Morns that pass by,
Fair eves that fly;
Come buy, come buy:
Our grapes fresh from the vine,
Pomegranates full and fine,
Dates and sharp bullaces,
Rare pears and greengages,
Damsons and bilberries,
Taste them and try:
Currants and gooseberries,
Bright-fire-like barberries,
Figs to fill your mouth,
Citrons from the South,
Sweet to tongue and sound to eye;
Come buy, come buy.”

Evening by evening
Among the brookside rushes,
Laura bow’d her head to hear,
Lizzie veil’d her blushes:
Crouching close together
In the cooling weather,
With clasping arms and cautioning lips,
With tingling cheeks and finger tips.
“Lie close,” Laura said,
Pricking up her golden head:
“We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?”
“Come buy,” call the goblins
Hobbling down the glen.

“Oh,” cried Lizzie, “Laura, Laura,
You should not peep at goblin men.”
Lizzie cover’d up her eyes,
Cover’d close lest they should look;
Laura rear’d her glossy head,
And whisper’d like the restless brook:
“Look, Lizzie, look, Lizzie,
Down the glen tramp little men.
One hauls a basket,
One bears a plate,
One lugs a golden dish
Of many pounds weight.
How fair the vine must grow
Whose grapes are so luscious;
How warm the wind must blow
Through those fruit bushes.”
“No,” said Lizzie, “No, no, no;
Their offers should not charm us,
Their evil gifts would harm us.”
She thrust a dimpled finger
In each ear, shut eyes and ran:
Curious Laura chose to linger
Wondering at each merchant man.
One had a cat’s face,
One whisk’d a tail,
One tramp’d at a rat’s pace,
One crawl’d like a snail,
One like a wombat prowl’d obtuse and furry,
One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry.
She heard a voice like voice of doves
Cooing all together:
They sounded kind and full of loves
In the pleasant weather.

Edward Lear

No curated list of poetry for children would be complete without the inclusion of Edward Lear, a figure whose name is virtually synonymous with “nonsense.” Lear is considered an important precursor to later writers like Dr. Seuss. While nonsense is an ancient literary genre, much critical discussion has focused on its potential interpretations, such as representing an inversion of the natural order or, particularly in Lear’s case, acting as a reaction against puritanical moralism. However, such analyses often overlook the profound sense of pure joy that nonsense poetry, and particularly “The Owl And The Pussycat,” so wonderfully evokes. Far from being merely subversive, the poem’s delightful absurdities—from wrapping money inside a five-pound note to inventing words like “runcible” (a word unique to the Oxford English Dictionary for lacking a definition)—infuse the verse with an otherworldly beauty and a sense of mystery. This can awaken, even in the most world-weary adults, the feeling that the world is indeed a magical place, full of unexpected wonders.

The Owl And The Pussycat

Illustration of an owl playing a guitar in a pea-green boat with a cat

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
__In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
__Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
__And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
__What a beautiful Pussy you are,
____You are,
____You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”

II

Pussy said to the Owl, “You elegant fowl!
__How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
__But what shall we do for a ring?”
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
__To the land where the Bong-Tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
__With a ring at the end of his nose,
____His nose,
____His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

“Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling
Your ring?” Said the Piggy, “I will.”
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
____The moon,
____The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Lewis Carroll

“Somehow it seems to fill my head with ideas—only I don’t exactly know what they are!” This memorable line is uttered by Alice early in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, after encountering the following verses reflected in a mirror. “Jabberwocky,” a quintessential nonsense poem, was initially conceived as a parody of Anglo-Saxon verse. In some ways, it occupies the opposite end of the spectrum from Lear’s poem. Its narrative is almost entirely veiled by a barrage of neologisms, reminiscent of Dr. Seuss at his most inventive. Indeed, several words now common in English, such as “galumphing” and “chortle,” originated in this very poem. While this might seem self-indulgent or even pointless to a pragmatic adult, sensible grown-ups would do well to recall that much of language is initially nonsensical to a child’s ear. Many words feel heavy with unspoken danger or mystery simply by the way they sound or “taste” in the mouth, even when their meaning is unknown. By venturing beyond the conventional lexicon and into the realm of pure sound, Carroll captures something fundamental about the essence of poetry—its capacity to communicate emotion, suggestion, and meaning that transcends literal language.

Jabberwocky

Illustration from Through the Looking Glass showing Alice looking at a mirror reflected poem

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
__Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
__And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
__The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
__The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
__Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree
__And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
__The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
__And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
__The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
__He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
__Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
__He chortled in his joy.

’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
__Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
__And the mome raths outgrabe.

Walter de la Mare

“Surely, of all living English writers Mr. Walter de la Mare’s fame is most likely to endure,” wrote Lord David Cecil. Time has shown how misplaced that prediction was. It is regrettable how little of de la Mare’s work remains widely available and that his name has largely faded from public memory. Few writers have approached the task of writing for young readers with such earnestness and dedication to their craft, and even fewer have possessed such a fertile, child-like imagination. Indeed, de la Mare (1873-1956) held a strong belief that children possessed a visionary imagination that was often lost upon their transition into the adult world of strict logic and deduction. While many poems on this list, and much children’s verse in general, lean towards narrative or nonsense, “Silver,” drawn from de la Mare’s celebrated collection Peacock Pie, is a piece of pure lyricism. Its imagery is as simple as it is stunningly beautiful, and unlike many writers attempting to connect with children, de la Mare never seems to strain for effect. Instead, with remarkable restraint and profound skill, he allows the imagery to build, seemingly bathing the entire scene in silvery light. As with much of the poetry found in his volumes Songs of Childhood and Peacock Pie, this piece is so sublime it blurs the line between writing for children and writing to adults about the enchanting world of childhood perception.

Nineteenth-century painting depicting romantic ruins bathed in moonlight

Silver

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon;
This way, and that, she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees;
One by one the casements catch
Her beams beneath the silvery thatch;
Couched in his kennel, like a log,
With paws of silver sleeps the dog;
From their shadowy cote the white breasts peep
Of doves in a silver-feathered sleep;
A harvest mouse goes scampering by,
With silver claws and a silver eye;
And moveless fish in the water gleam,
By silver reeds in a silver stream.

Hilaire Belloc

From the sublime beauty of de la Mare, we turn to the deliberately ridiculous with Hilaire Belloc. The short moral fables collected in Belloc’s Cautionary Tales For Children are all rendered in light, lively iambic tetrameter couplets, providing a cheerfully deceptive surface to their underlying ruthlessness. While some might find them morbid, these tales were clearly a significant influence on writers like Roald Dahl, and their legacy persists, albeit in a sometimes diluted form, in contemporary children’s literature. Adults, with their more developed sense of tragedy, might recoil at the apparent delight Belloc takes in the misfortunes of his ill-behaved young characters. However, the deeply religious and morally upright Belloc masterfully channels a child’s innate fascination with destruction toward instructive ends, all while subtly (and often openly) satirizing the dour moralizing typical of the Victorian era. The result is a collection of poems that are both genuinely funny and sharply moralistic, offering a unique blend of dark humor and playful verse that continues to captivate readers.

Matilda, Who Told Lies, and Was Burned to Death

Matilda told such Dreadful Lies,
It made one Gasp and Stretch one’s Eyes;
Her Aunt, who, from her Earliest Youth,
Had kept a Strict Regard for Truth,
Attempted to Believe Matilda:
The effort very nearly killed her,
And would have done so, had not She
Discovered this Infirmity.
For once, towards the Close of Day,
Matilda, growing tired of play,
And finding she was left alone,
Went tiptoe to the Telephone
And summoned the Immediate Aid
Of London’s Noble Fire-Brigade.
Within an hour the Gallant Band
Were pouring in on every hand,
From Putney, Hackney Downs, and Bow
With Courage high and Hearts a-glow
They galloped, roaring through the Town
‘Matilda’s House is Burning Down!’
Inspired by British Cheers and Loud
Proceeding from the Frenzied Crowd,
They ran their ladders through a score
Of windows on the Ball Room Floor;
And took Peculiar Pains to Souse
The Pictures up and down the House,
Until Matilda’s Aunt succeeded
In showing them they were not needed;
And even then she had to pay
To get the Men to go away!
It happened that a few Weeks later
Her Aunt was off to the Theatre
To see that Interesting Play
The Second Mrs Tanqueray.
She had refused to take her Niece
To hear this Entertaining Piece:
A Deprivation Just and Wise
To Punish her for Telling Lies.
That Night a Fire did break out—
You should have heard Matilda Shout!
You should have heard her Scream and Bawl,
And throw the window up and call
To People passing in the Street—
(The rapidly increasing Heat
Encouraging her to obtain
Their confidence)—but all in vain!
For every time She shouted ‘Fire!’
They only answered ‘Little Liar’!
And therefore when her Aunt returned,
Matilda, and the House, were Burned.

T.S. Eliot

The name T.S. Eliot is seldom mentioned in discussions of traditional poetry without acknowledging his central role in the modernist movement, often viewed critically by proponents of classical forms. It is therefore telling that when he composed his only book intended for children, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, he chose to write predominantly in rhymed, metrical verse. Perhaps Eliot understood that the academic debates pitting “poetry” against “mere versification” would not impress the discerning ears of children, or perhaps he aimed to demonstrate to his more conservative critics that he was perfectly capable of writing skillfully within traditional forms when he desired. The slightly anachronistic title of the collection suggests that nostalgia might have played a significant role, serving as an exercise in recapturing a certain kind of playful, formal verse. Regardless of the motivation, Eliot’s mastery of form is clearly evident in poems like “(Of) The Awefull Battle of The Pekes and The Pollicles.” In contrast, other poems within the same volume that adopt freer verse structures tend to lack the distinct musicality that makes reading these poems aloud such a pleasure. This particular piece showcases Eliot’s ability to craft engaging, rhythmic verse perfectly suited for performance and entertainment, proving the enduring power of form even from a leading modernist voice.

(Of) The Awefull Battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles (Together with Some Account of the Participation of the Pugs and the Poms, and the Intervention of the Great Rumpuscat)

The Pekes and the Pollicles, everyone knows,
Are proud and implacable passionate foes;
It is always the same, wherever one goes.
And the Pugs and the Poms, although most people say
That they do not like fighting, will often display
Every symptom of wanting to join in the fray.
____And they
__Bark bark bark bark
__Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you can hear them all over the Park.

Now on the occasion of which I shall speak

Almost nothing had happened for nearly a week
(And that’s a long time for a Pol or a Peke).
The big Police Dog was away from his beat—
I don’t know the reason, but most people think
He’d slipped into the Bricklayer’s Arms for a drink—
And no one at all was about on the street
When a Peke and a Pollicle happened to meet.
They did not advance, or exactly retreat,
But they glared at each other and scraped their hind feet,
____And started to
__Bark bark bark bark
__Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you could hear them all over the Park.

Now the Peke, although people may say what they please,
Is no British Dog, but a Heathen Chinese.
And so all the Pekes, when they heard the uproar,
Some came to the window, some came to the door;
There were surely a doyen, more likely a score.
And together they started to grumble and wheeye
In their huffery-snuffery Heathen Chinese.
But a terrible din is what Pollicles like,
for your Pollicle Dog is a dour Yorkshire tyke,
And his braw Scottish cousins are snappers and biters,
And every dog-jack of them notable fighters;
And so they stepped out, with their pipers in order,
Playing When the Blue Bonnets Came Over the Border.
Then the Pugs and the Poms held no longer aloof,
But some from the balcony, some from the roof,
____Joined in
____To the din
____With a
__Bark bark bark bark
__Bark bark BARK BARK
Until you could hear them all over the Park.

Now when these bold heroes together assembled,
The traffic all stopped, and the Underground trembled,
And some of the neighbours were so much afraid
That they started to ring up the Fire Brigade.
When suddenly, up from a small basement flat,
Why who should stalk out but the GREAT RUMPUSCAT.
His eyes were like fireballs fearfully blazing,
He gave a great yawn, and his jaws were amazing;
And when he looked out through the bars of the area,
You never saw anything fiercer or hairier.
And what with the glare of his eyes and his yawning,
The Pekes and the Pollicles quickly took warning.
He looked at the sky and he gave a great leap—
And they every last one of them scattered like sheep.

And when the Police Dog returned to his beat,
There wasn’t a single one left in the street.

These seven poems offer just a glimpse into the vast and rich landscape of traditional poetry available for children. Far from being outdated or simplistic, these works by masters of the craft demonstrate the enduring power of meter, rhyme, and carefully chosen language to engage the imagination, evoke emotion, and even introduce complex ideas or pure, unadulterated joy. Sharing these poems with children provides not only an opportunity to experience linguistic beauty and musicality but also to connect with literary traditions that have shaped generations. In a world increasingly dominated by fleeting trends, introducing children to the timeless magic of classic verse is a gift that can foster a lifelong love of language and art.